ANCHORAGE (KTUU) - The leading three mushers have left the Shaktoolik checkpoint and are headed to Koyuk early Monday morning. According to the Iditarod's official check in time, Nicolas Petit, Bib 46, left at 1 a.m. Mar. 12. Behind him were mushers Mitch Seavey and Joar Leifseth Ulsom, who left Shaktoolik at 3:43 a.m. and 4:48 a.m., respectively. According to the Iditarod's GPS tracking system, Seavey and Petit are tied almost exactly for first place.

Competitors took to the snowy trail as the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race kicked off Sunday in Alaska following a trying year for the annual event. Musher Cody Strathe of Fairbanks and his 16-dog team were the first to take off across frozen Willow Lake, about 75 miles north of Anchorage. Before taking off on the trail, Strathe said he was excited to be the first to leave. He said he had a harmonica in his pocket and he plans to teach himself to play during the race.

FULL TITLE: 'I have done absolutely nothing wrong': Four-time Iditarod winner speaks out after being accused of DOPING his dogs in preparation for the annual long-distance sled race Four-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey denied Monday that he administered banned drugs to his dogs in this year's race and said he has withdrawn from the 2018 race in protest over the allegations. 'I have never given any banned substance to my dogs,' Seavey said in a video posted to his Facebook page. He didn't immediately return calls to The Associated Press after the Iditarod Trail Committee identified him as the musher...

It may have been his birthday, but four-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey's attention was on other things Saturday, like winning the Iditarod again. "I'm just a day older than yesterday," Seavey said as he bent over to velcro a red-colored bootie on a dog's foot on a snowy Anchorage street. "We've got bigger things to focus on right now." Seavey turned 30 Saturday. He holds the titles of the Iditarod's youngest champion as well as its fastest, setting a new record last year by breaking the one he set in 2014. "They told me you get older when you turn...

SEATTLE -- Fifty-three Iditarod race dogs ended up on an unexpected detour south of Seattle Tuesday. The dogs are part of four Norwegian sled teams and were headed home from Anchorage when they ran into issues with flying from Alaska, said Dag Olsen, one of the team mushers. When faced with that hurdle, the quickest, most affordable option became renting a large truck and making the 2,500 mile trek to catch the Seattle-to-Norway flight. "They said, 'if you must go now, OK, we can give you one flight, but you must pay $80,000 to $100,000.' I have not so much...

UPDATE: A 26-year-old Nulato man says he was returning home from Koyukuk after a night of drinking when he struck Aliy Zirkle and Jeff King's teams in the early hours of Saturday with his snowmachine. Arnold Demoski told Channel 2 News that when he woke up this morning and heard what happened to the mushers, he checked his snowmachine and knew he'd done it. The 2016 Ski-Doo was missing a cowling, or hood. Fresh, rust-colored stains marked the siding. Demoski says he does not remember the collisions, which the Iditarod described as apparently intentional attacks. He also says he did...

Iditarod officials said a snowmachine attack on two top Iditarod teams has left one dog dead and several injured. Two Rivers musher Aliy Zirkle and Denali Park’s Jeff King reported a snowmachiner repeatedly attempted to harm their dog teams as they traveled to the Yukon River checkpoint of Nulato early Saturday morning. King’s team was struck, according to a press release from the Iditarod Trail Committee, resulting in the death of 3-year-old Nash and non-life threatening injuries to two others: 2-year-old Banjo and 3-year-old Crosby. A dog in Zirkle’s team also received a non-life threatening injury. The dog was not...

The snowmobile hit the side of Zirkle's sled at 5 miles (8.05 kilometers)out of Koyukuk, turned around multiple times and came back at her before driving off, King, a four-time Iditarod champion, was behind Zirkle and fared worse. When King reached the vicinity, he was struck from behind by the snowmobile and at least three of his dogs were hit.

You’ve probably heard all the clucking about trucking in snow for the Iditarod Sled Race, but you probably haven’t heard this - “The climate of the interior of Alaska is best described as extreme and is the best example of a true subarctic climate.” – Wikipedia “Most subarctic climates have very little precipitation, typically no more than 380 mm (15 in) over an entire year. Away from the coasts, precipitation occurs mostly in the warmer months.” – Wikepedia 1) In other words, the interior of Alaska, where Iditarod runs through, is a desert. To help visualize this, imagine California’s Death...

THE GREAT ALONE - official trailer Suzanna Caldwell February 25, 2015 Greg Kohs’ independently produced documentary follows four-time Iditarod champion Lance Mackey along the 2013 trail, where he went on to place 19th. It also traces back to his early life, with family interviews, including dad and 1978 Iditarod champion Dick Mackey, along with his hard-scrabble rise over the years to becoming a legendary dog musher.

Four-time Iditarod champion Lance Mackey was arrested near Fairbanks on Saturday for violating conditions of release in a pending 2013 DUI case by driving without a valid license, the Alaska State Troopers said.

From lounging on the FL coast to running the Iditarod trail in 16 days, 16 hours, 48 minutes: where'd I leave my boots? Danny Seavey For those of you who don't know, I'm not racing dogs this winter. My wife, daughters, and I left Alaska last fall and have been touring the East Coast, starting in Maine and moving south as the weather gets colder. I woke up in Pensacola, Florida this morning, am currently wearing flip flops, have as much of a tan as I ever have and a pocket full of Allikz's seashells. I think I've adapted quite...

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has apologized to an Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race musher whose dog died at a checkpoint. PETA last month accused Fairbanks musher Paige Drobny of leaving her dog unattended and said she should be criminally prosecuted. …

Pet detectives from Missing Pet Partnership have once again returned a beloved pet to her owners. MPP recovered a skittish husky-mix named Smilla, who, after running in the Iditarod in Alaska, ran her own race throughout eastern King County. Here's their account:: Smilla, who lives in Norway, flew to Alaska in February to run the Iditarod sled race. However, luck was not on the side of her rookie handler, Silvia Furtwangler. On February 9th, one of Furtwangler’s sled dogs “Whistler” escaped while Furtwangler was driving through Anchorage. Whistler was ultimately recovered with “enchiladas and roast beef” (story here http://tinyurl.com/865lajn )....

The 40th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race came to an end earlier this week in Nome, Alaska. Dallas Seavey, 25, bested both his father and his grandfather with his team of nine dogs, becoming the youngest musher ever to win the nearly 1,000-mile race across the Alaskan wilderness. His winnings included $50,000 and a new truck. Gathered here are images from the Iditarod and other events from around the globe.(29 photos total)

NOME, Alaska — Dallas Seavey won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday evening, becoming the youngest musher to win the nearly 1,000-mile race across Alaska. Seavey turned 25 on March 4, the day the race officially started north of Anchorage. He was the first musher to reach Nome, his nine dogs trotting under the famous burled-arch finish line in the Bering Sea coastal community at 7:29 p.m. Tuesday.

John Baker won the storied Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in record time on Tuesday while becoming the first Alaska Native champion since 1976. He shattered the course record by three hours, finishing the 1,100-mile race in eight days, 19 hours and 46 minutes. The previous record had been set in 2002 by four-time champion Martin Buser. Driving a team of 10 trotting dogs, Baker sledded along snow-covered Front Street in Nome, Alaska, as he approached the finish line marked by a polished, knotted wood arch. He was greeted by drummers and dancers from his Inupiat tribe, and a large...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The streets of downtown Anchorage were filled with barking dogs and screaming fans Saturday as the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race got under way with a rollicking sprint through Alaska's biggest city. The ceremonial start of the world's longest sled dog race is always a festive affair in which one of the city's main streets becomes crowded with dog teams and people seeking to greet their favorite mushers and bid them good luck in the 1,150-mile race to Nome.